Annual eLearning Training Tips: 3 Ways to Keep User Engagement

For anyone who has ever flown, you have most likely viewed the safety information card found in the airplane seat-back pocket. Most of us feel like once we have reviewed that card a time or two, we know the drill and have no need to review it on every flight.

I was recently on a flight, and as the flight attendants began their safety routine. I noticed that many of the people on the flight were carrying on conversations, reading, dealing with their children, not paying any attention to the flight attendants. It made me wonder about how many of our learners look at their annual eLearning training courses in the same way. They have heard it all before, nothing changes from year-to-year, it is boring or uninteresting.

So how do we keep our learners engaged? What can we do to entice them to review the safety information card?

Here are three ways that you can keep your annual eLearning training courses engaging:

#1 Change up the course look and feel

Edit the course from year-to-year. You do not have to rewrite the entire course, but change out some of the examples. Maybe do a little focus group to get some real examples that your learners experience regularly on the job. Add some fun or challenging activities to your eLearning courses to give your learners a challenge.

In the case of the flight safety information card I recently watched a video where the flight attendant added her own “flair” to the safety presentation. She very quickly gathered and kept everyone’s attention for the duration of her presentation. Some of the passengers were anxiously waiting for the next thing she would say, knowing it would be entertaining — yet still informative.

Why can’t we do this with our eLearning training? Annual compliance or safety training does not have to be boring.

#2 Offer a Pre-Test Option

If the purpose of the eLearning is for your learners to demonstrate knowledge of the content by passing a post-test, why not let them attempt to demonstrate that knowledge before making them sit through the course? Give your learners the opportunity to test out of taking the entire course.

Perhaps you can modularize the content. Have pre-test questions that pertain to each module. If they pass the pre-test questions, then they can skip those learning modules. This idea will shorten the time for your learners to be away from their job to take the training.

#3 Scenario Based Training

Instead of quoting regulations and policies in a course, why not build scenarios that support regulations and company policies. This way the learner can practice using their knowledge of company policies, regulations, and your courses will keep your learners engaged. You can include remediation for the scenarios that direct the learner back to regulations and company policies.

This is obviously not everything. I am sure you probably have more ideas for keeping your learners engaged. I would like to hear how you handle your annual eLearning training for your employees. What works for your team?